Trolley-retriever.



PATBNTBD MAY 14', 19o?.

M. F. HODGB.

TROLLEY RETRIEVER.

APPLIoAfrIoN FILED 1330.13. 1905.

2 SHEETS-Bmw 2.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

MADISON F. HODGE, OF LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOHERBERT WV. WOLOOTT,` OF LEAVENl/VORTH, KANSAS.

TROLLEY-RETRIEVER.

l Specification of Letters Patent.

Eatented May 14, 1907.

Application filed December 18, 1905. Serial No. 292,366.

To a/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, MADISON F. I-IoDGE, a citizen of the United States,residing at1200 South Second street, Leavenworth city, in the county ofLeavenworth and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Trolley-Retrievers, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to trolley retrievers of that character whichautomatically cuts short the upward spring of the trolley when it leavesthe wire and instantly draws it downward to a position below the wire,and my object is to produce an ei'licient and reliable device of thischaracter and one which can be reset with convenience and despatch.

With this general object in view and others as hereinafter appear, theinvention consists in certain novel and peculiar features ofconstruction and combinations of parts as hereinafter described andclaimed; and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to behad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, indicates a topplan view of a trolley retriever embodying my invention, the casing-orhousing being omitted. Fig. 2, indicates avertical section taken on theline IIHIV of Fig. 1, in the direction indicated by the arrow, with apart broken away. Fig. 3

is a vertical section taken on the line IIIHIII of Fig. 1. Fig. 4, is asection taken on the line II-IV of Fig. 1 but viewed in the oppositedirection from that indicated by the arrow.

In said drawings, 1 indicates the front plate 2 the sides and 8 thesubstantially U- shaped body of a housing, said body being secured atits side margins in any suitable manner to sides 2, and at its ends tothe plate 1, and said housing is provided in its upper side with atransverse slot 4, and with a longitudinal slot 5.

6 indicates a shaft j ournaled in the sides 2 of the housing and 7 acollar rigid on said shaft and engaging externally one of the sides 2.The adjacent end of the shaft is referabiy squared as at 8 to receivethe handle 9, for a purpose hereinafter eX- plained.

Within the housing the shaft is provided with a threaded portion 10 andat one end of said threaded portion a ratchet wheel is mounted on saidshaft. The toothed portion 12 of the ratchet wheel is disposed at theinner end of the hub'so as to provide a chamber into which projects pins13 from the adjacent side of the housing, said pins being disposedcircularly so as to coniine between them the main spring 14, secured Iatits inner end as at 15 to the hub of thev ratchet wheel and at its outerend as at 16 to a bolt 17, the inner end of said bolt being secured toan internalarm 18, of the housing. The screw 15 for securing the spring14 to the ratchet wheel may, if desired, be utilized for securing saidwheel rigidly on the shaft, as shown in Fig. 3, said wheel and collar 7engaging opposite sides of the contiguous side of the casing to preventendwise movement of the shaft.

Pivoted on bolt 17 is a pawl 19 having recesses 20 in its upper side,said recesses being at opposite sides of its pivotal point.

21 is a catch having an opening 22 engaged slidingly by a spring 23overlying the pawl and the toothed portion of the ratchet wheel andsecured at one extremity as at 24 to plate 1, the tendency of saidspring being to hold the catch pressed yieldingly against thc pawl so asto hold the latter in engagement with or away from the ratchet. Thecatch projects up through opening 5 of the housing so that the conductorcan readily grasp and move the same, the elongated form of the openingpermitting the catch to be adjusted for engagement with one of therecesses 20 of the pawl or theother.

When the device is in operative position the catch is in engagement withthe recess at the toothed end of the pawl as shown in inl'l lines Fig.4. l/Vhen the retriever is to bereset the catch may be moved to theposition shown in dotted lines same iigure.

Secured to or formed integral with the ratchet wheel as shown, is aclutch member consisting of a collar 25 having a lug 26 projecting fromits inner face and provided at its front end with a groove 27. Ifdesired the part 26 may be an integral projection from the ratchet wheelinstead of from the collar, as shown.

28 indicates a reel journaled on shaft 6, at the opposite end of thegrooved portion 10 IOO thereof from the ratchet wheel, and 29 thetrolley rope, the same being secured at its inner end to the reel asshown or in any other suitable manner, and extending thence up throughthe slot 4 of the housing to the trolley pole not shown, the rope beingkept taut by a spring 30, secured at its inner end as at 31 to the hubof the reel, and at its outer end to one of a series of pins 32surrounding the spring and rigid with the contiguous side of thehousing.

A clutch member made rigid with the reel in any suitable mannerpreferably consists of a disk or collar 33, having a lug 34 projectingfrom its face toward the ratchet wheel, one end of the lug being groovedas at 35 so that at the proper time the tongues produced by groovinglugs 26 and 34 shall interlock with each other as hereinafter described.The disk 33 is also provided with a radial passage 36 communicating atits inner end with the groove of the thread 1t).

Pivoted on the reel as at 37 at diametrically opposite points are a pairof swing arms 38, terminating at diametrically opposite points inenlarged ends or weights 39 and one of said swing arms is provided atthe opposite side of its pivotal point with an arm 40 pivotallyconnected by link 41 with the companion arm 38, and rigid with said linkand projecting inwardly therefrom through passage 36 is a dog 42, havingits inner end preferably pointed slightly projecting into the verticalplane of the groove of the thread 10; said dog normally occupying theposition shown in F ig. 2 in order that slight lateral movement of thepawl will dispose its end in the groove of the thread 10 and thus, ashereinafter explained, cause the reel to travel on the shaft until itsclutch member engages with the clutch member of the ratchet wheel.

To hold the dog 42 normally out of engagement with the groove of thethread, a spring 43 presses at its free end against the periphery ofdisk or collar 33 and is secured at its opposite end by set screw 44, toone of the swing arms 38, preferably the one which is not provided withthe arm 40.

Vhen the device is in operative position, the parts are all arranged asshown in full lines except pawl 19, so that if the trolley wheel leavesthe wire its incidental upward spring, through the movement of thetrolley rope will instantly revolve the reel in opposition to spring 30.Immediately this action begins the arms 3S swing outward by centrifugalforce in opposition to spring 43 and cause the dog to move radially intoengagement with the grooveof the thread 10, and thereby compel the reelto move spirally toward the ratchet wheel, the spring 30 yieldn ingsufficiently to permit this action to take place, which in practice isalmost instantaneous with the disengagement of the trolley from thewire. As the clutch lug 34 imessaies pinges upon and interlocks with theclutch luO 26 the ratchet wheel is caused by said impact to move veryslightly in the direction indicated by the arrow ltig. 4, this movementbeing sullicient to permit the spring 2:) to trip the pawl 19 fromengagement with sairl ratchet wheel, which action. in turn is instantlyfollowed b y the reverse operation ol said ratchet wheel under the powerol its spring 14, and in this connection it will be noticed that thespring 30 cooperates with spring 14 in reversing the rotation of theratchet wheel and the reel, though the principal function of the spring3() as hereinbefore stated is to keep the rope taut that it may startthe reel action instantly and thus insure an almost instantaneouschecking and depression of the trolley after it leaves the wire. Thepower of the spring 14 great enough to rewind su'llicient rope on thercel to draw the trolley wheel down below the plane of the supports ofthe trolley wire and in practice the action is so quick that such resultis accomplished by the time the car has traveled twice its length. Toreset the trolley the catch is then slipped forward to force the pawlinto engagement with and lock the wheel against back rotation and thenthe conductor grasps the rope above the rc triever and pulls upward uponit, this actioli through the engagement of the clutch menibers rewindingthe spring 14 and spring 3l). Because of the fact that the pawl 1.()snaps into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel successively,the comluctor is enabled to reset the retriever by a succession of pullsor jerks on the rope and can therew fore reset it without difficultybecause he is enabled to brace himself by placing one hand or armagainst the car.

As soon as the trolley is reset the pull ou the rope is relaxed and theslack in the saine permits the spring 30 to turn the reel and take upsuch slack, the incidental back revolution of the reel through theengagement ol' its dog with the groove of the thread 1() re turning thereel to its original position. .its its movement ceases the dog iswithdrawn :from the groove. The operator then slides catch 21 to theposition shown by dotted lines, the pressure of the ratchet wheelagainst the end of the dog holding the lati'rr in operative position andready to tly up ward as soon as the ratchet wheel starts to move in thedirection indicated by the arrow Fig. 4.

It will be noticed that the movement olI the reel toward the ratchetwheel is always opposed and cushioned by the spring 14, and that theaction of said spring cooperates in forcing the reel back to itsoriginal position after the wheel has been reset and it will be furthernoticed that the stepped or grooved form of the clutch faces of theclutch lugs tends to eliminate the tendency of the reel to recoil whenthe shock of contact is opposed by the power of the spring 14. For theconvenience of some conductors who may find difliculty in resetting theretriever by means of the rope, I have provided the handle 9, whichgives the conductor greater leverage over the spring 14 than he obtainsthrough the medium of the rope. The resetting operation by means of therope is preferable because it can be effected with greater celerity thanby means of the handle.

All succeeding operations are repetitions of those above described.

If the spring 14 should break the ratchet wheel can be locked by pawl19, and the spring 30, will prevent the trolley going up too high. Thedevice acts as a catch in this case but not as a retriever.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced atrolley retriever possessing the features of advantage enumerated asdesirable in the statement of invention and which obviously may bemodii'ied in its form, proportion, detail construction and arrangementof the parts without departing from the principle of constructioninvolved.

. Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A trolley retriever, comprising a housing, a shaft journaled in thehousing and provided with a screw-thread, a wheel ri id on the shaft, areel journaled on the sha 't and engaging said wheel, a trolley ropeupon and secured to the reel and extending through the housing, meansfor yieldingly resisting rotative movement of the wheel imparted by apull on said rope, means to lock the wheel against back rotation whenthe pull on the rope ceases, means to then revolve the reel in theopposite direction, and a dog rotatable -with the reel and adaptedduring the back rotation of the latter to engage said screwthread.

2. A trolley retriever, comprising a housing, a shaft journaled in thehousing, a wheel rigid on the shaft, a reel journaled on the shaft andengaging said wheel, a trolley rope upon and secured to the reel andextending through the housing, means for yieldingly resisting rotativemovement of thewheel irnparted by a pulll on said rope, means to lockthe wheel against back rotation when the pull on the rope ceases, meansto then revolve the reel in the opposite direction, a screw-thread, adog in engagement with said thread when the reel is revolving one ofsaid last-named elements revolving with the reel to cause it to moveaway from the wheel during such back revolution, and means to effectdisengagement between the dog and screw thread when the rotation of thereel ceases.

3. A trolley retriever, comprising a housing, a shaft journaled thereinand provided with a screw-thread, a wheel rigid on the shaft andprovided with a clutch member, a reel journaled on the shaft andprovided with a companion clutch member, and a dog carried by the reeland adapted to engage the screw thread when the reel is rotating andcause it to move toward the wheel until the clutch members engage orfrom the wheel until the clutch members are disengaged.

4. A trolley retriever, comprising a housing, a shaft journaled thereinand provided with a screw-thread, a wheel rigid on the shaft andprovided with a clutch member, a reel journaled on the shaft andprovided with a companion clutch member, a dog rotatable with 4the reel,and means carried by the latter and adapted to move outward undercentrifugal force when the reel is rotating, and force the dogintoengagement with the thread.

5. The combination of a housing having an opening, a shaft carried bythe housing and provided with a screw-thread, a reel journaled on theshaft and provided with a clutch member, a dog rotatably movable withthe reel and adapted to engage the screw thread when the reel is rotatedand move the latter longitudinally on the shaft, and a second clutchmember to be engaged by and arrest the movement of the rst-named clutchmember and the reel carrying the same.

6. The combination of a housing having an opening, a shaft carried bythe housing, and provided with a screw-thread, a reel journaled on theshaft and provided with a clutch' member, a swing arm pivoted tothereel, a dog connected to said swing arm and held yieldingly out ofengagement with the screw-thread when the reel is at rest and adaptedwhen the reel is rotating to be moved by the swing arm into engagementwith the screw thread and effect longitudinal movement of the reel onthe shaft, and a second clutch member to be engaged by and arrest themovement of the first-named clutch member and the reel carryingthe same.

7. A trolley retriever, comprising a housing, a shaft journaled thereinand provided with a screw thread, a wheel rigid on the shaft andprovided with a clutch member, a reel journaled on the shaft andprovided with a companion clutch member, a swing arm pivoted to thereel, and a dog connected to said swing arm and held yieldingly out ofengagement with the screw thread while the reel is at rest and adaptedwhen the reel is rotating to be moved by the outward movement of saidswing arm into engagement with the screw thread to cause the reel tomove toward the wheel until the clutch members engage or from the wheeluntil the clutch members are disengaged.

8. A trolley retriever, comprising a housing, a shaft journaled thereinand provided with a screw thread, a wheel rigid on the shaft andprovided with a clutch member, a

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reel j ournaled on the shaft and provided adapted to hold the dognormally out of en With a companion eluteh member, a swing gage'mentWiththe sereW thread. 1o arm pivoted to the reel, a disk rigid with theln testimony whereof l aflix my signature, reel and provided with anopening extending in the presence of two Witnesses.

from its periphery to the shaft, a dog oeoupy- MADISON F. HODGE. ingsaid opening and pivotally connected to Witnesses:

the swing arm, and a spring bearing against JOHN ATWooD7 said dog` andsecured to the swing arm and CARL H. HASHAGEN.

